Otho   

there were many movements in both armies for acting in concert; and
if it were possible for them to agree, then they should proceed to
choose one of their most experienced officers that were present; if
not, they should convene the senate, and invest it with the power
of election. And it is not improbable that, neither of the emperors
then bearing the title having really any reputation, such purposes
were really entertained among the genuine, serviceable, and sober-minded
part of the soldiers. For what could be more odious and unreasonable
than that the evils which the Roman citizens had formerly thought
it so lamentable to inflict upon each other for the sake of a Sylla
or a Marius, a Caesar or a Pompey, should now be undergone anew, for
the object of letting the empire pay the expenses of the gluttony
and intemperance of Vitellius, or the looseness and effeminacy of
Otho? It is thought that Celsus, upon such reflections, protracted
the time in order to a possible accommodation; and that Otho pushed
on things to an extremity to prevent it.
He himself returned to Brixillum, which was another false step, both
because he withdrew from the combatants all the motives of respect
and desire to gain his favour which his presence would have supplied,
and because he weakened the army by detaching some of his best and
most faithful troops for his horse and foot guards.
About the same time also happened a skirmish on the Po. As Caecina
was laying a bridge over it, Otho's men attacked him, and tried to
prevent it. And when they did not succeed, on their putting into their
boats torchwood, with a quantity of sulphur and pitch, the wind on
the river suddenly caught their material that they had prepared against
the enemy, and blew it into a light. First came smoke, and then a
clear flame, and the men, getting into great confusion and jumping
overboard, upset the boats, and put themselves ludicrously at the
mercy of their enemies. Also the Germans attacked Otho's gladiators
upon a small island in the river, routed them, and killed a good many.
All which made the soldiers at Bedriacum full of anger, and eagerness
to be led to battle. So Proculus led them out of Bedriacum to a place
fifty furlongs off, where he pitched his camp so ignorantly and with
such a ridiculous want of foresight that the soldiers suffered extremely
for want of water, though it was the spring time, and the plains all
around were full of running streams and rivers that never dried up.
The next day he proposed to attack the enemy, first making a march
of not less than a hundred furlongs; but to this Paulinus objected,
saying they ought to wait, and not immediately after a journey engage
men who would have been standing in their arms and arranging themselves
for battle at their leisure, whilst they were making a long march,
with all their beasts of burden and their camp followers to encumber
them. As the generals were arguing about this matter, a Numidian courier
came from Otho with orders to lose no time, but give battle. Accordingly
they consented, and moved. As soon as Caecina had notice, he was much
surprised, and quitted his post on the river to hasten to the camp.
In the meantime, the men had armed themselves mostly, and were receiving
the word from Valens; so while the legions took up their position,
they sent out the best of their horse in advance.
Otho's foremost troops, upon some groundless rumour, took up the notion
that the commanders on the other side would come over; and accordingly,
upon their first approach, they saluted them with the friendly title
of fellow-soldiers. But the others returned the compliment with anger
and disdainful words; which not only disheartened those that had given
the salutation, but excited suspicions of their fidelity amongst the
others on their side, who had not. This caused a confusion at the
very first onset. And nothing else that followed was done upon any
plan; the baggage-carriers, mingling up with the fighting men, created
great disorder and division; as well as the nature of the ground,
the ditches and pits in which were so many that they were forced to
break their ranks to avoid and go round them, and so to fight without
order, and in small parties. There were but two legions, one of Vitellius's
called The Ravenous, and another of Otho's, called The Assistant,